Seat for motor vehicles

ABSTRACT

A seat in particular a front seat for motor vehicles provided with a hinged tiltable back in which as the back tilts there is a corresponding sliding displacement of the seat in the same direction, and likewise on restoring the back into the normal position there is a corresponding sliding displacement of the seat in the direction opposite the preceding, thereby to provide better access for any back seats in two-doored motor vehicles.

United States Patent [151 3,695,695 Colucci [45] Oct. 3, 1972 [54] SEATFOR MOTOR VEHICLES [72] Inventor: Ivo Colucci, Milan, Italy Pn'ma'yExaminer-Jams Mitchell Attorney-Holman & Stern [73] Assrgnee: Alfa RomeoS.p.A., Milan, Italy I [22] Filed: March 18, 1970 ABSTRACT 21 1 20,529 Aseat in particular a front seat for motor vehicles provided with ahinged tiltable back in which as the back tilts there is a correspondingsliding displacement ;J.S.2|l of the Seat in the Sarne direction, andlikewise on d T 4% restoring the back into the normal position there isa 1 0 re l corresponding sliding displacement of the seat in thedirection opposite the preceding, thereby to provide [56] ReferencesCited better access for any back seats in two-doored motor UNITED STATESPATENTS vehlcles- 2,856,983 10/1958 Probstet a1 ..297/341 4 Claims, 4Drawing Figures minimum m2 3.695.695

' sum 1 or 3 'INVENTOR. Iva (atone-1' I M344, My

SEAT FOR MOTOR VEHICLES The present invention relates to a seat formotor vehicles particularly suitable for use as a front seat of two doormotor vehicles.

It is well known that in two door motor vehicles, the backs of the frontseats are tiltably hinged principally for the purpose of being able tohave access to the back seats.

However even on tilting the backs of the front seats, access to the backseats of the motor vehicle is relatively difficult because the back endsof the front seats may partly obstruct the access thus rendering accessmore difficult.

The object of this invention is to obviate this this disadvantage, thisobject being attained by providing a seat with a back which can tilttowards a seat base in which as the back tilts there is a correspondingsliding seat of the generally in the same direction, and likewise onraising the back into the normal position there is a correspondingsliding of the seat in the direction opposite the preceding.

These and other characteristics of the invention will be evident fromthe following description made by way of example with reference to theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective exploded view of a seat according to theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a lateral elevational view of the seat of FIG. 1 in the normalposition;

FIG. 3 is a lateral elevational view of the seat with its back in atilted position and its seat consequently moved forward;

FIG. 4 is a detailed view of the control lever mechanism for sliding theseat.

With reference to the drawings, a front seat for motor vehiclesconstructed according to the present invention is generically indicatedby the reference numeral l0, and comprises an actual seat portion 1 1and a back 12.

The seat portion 11 and its back 12 are connected together on each sideby means of an angular member 13.

Each member 13 is fixed at one end at the point 14 to the back 12 and atthe opposite end to a polygonal pivot 15 provided at the extremities ofa bar 16, said pivots 15 being inserted in a loose manner in holes 17 inbrackets 18 fixed to the sides of the seat 11, as is clearly illustratedin FIG. 1.

In this manner the back 12 is tiltable with respect to the seat 1 1.

One of the members 13 is further provided with a device 19 ofconventional type, for engaging a pivot 20 rigid with the seat slidablyinserted when the back 12 is in the open position.

Guides 21 are fixed below on opposing sides of the seat 11 and areslidably inserted in guides 22 which are rigid with guides 23, which areslidably inserted and secured in guides 24 which are in turn fixed tothe floor of the motor vehicle. I

The guides 23 slide on the guides 24 with resilient strips 25 androllers 26 interposed between them.

Said guides 23 and 24 serve for adjusting and securing the position ofthe seat on the floor of the motor vehicle in a manner well known topersons in this field.

The guides 21 aNd 22 serve for sliding the seat 11 according to theinvention forwards and backwards, forwards when the back 12 is tilted tothe position shown in FIG. 3 and backwards when it is returned to theposition shown in FIG. 2, said sliding being performed and controlled inthe following manner.

In opposing positions on said bar 16 close to the sides of the seat 11,two members 27 are fixed by welding and having two levers 28 pivoted at29 to their free ends, said levers 28 being rotably pivoted at 30 tofixed supports 31 rigid with the guides 22 and 23 which are themselvesstationary. The FIGS. 2 and 4 show only one of the two lever mechanismsdescribed, for simplicity of drawing.

Sliding of the seat 11 takes place in the following manner. From thedrawings it is seen that the two angular members 13, the pivots l5,rotate about 30 as the hinge when the back 12 is tilted forward, andwhile doing so tend to move pivots 15, which are fastened with the seat11 through an arc. The seat 11 since it is constrained to move onlylinearly by means of guides 21, 22, moves forward, the movement beingmade possible by the pivot 29 receding down. Thereby, tilting the back12 from a position shown in FIG. 2 to that in FIG. 3 causes anassociated forward sliding movement of the seat 11. On restoring theback 12 to its original position, the linkwork movement is retracedwhereby the seat 11 is retracted horizontally to its original position.

Naturally when sliding of the guides 23 on the guides 24 is blocked andthe device 19 is hooked to the pivot 20, the whole of the seat isrigidly fixed to the floor of the motor vehicle.

What we claim is:

1. In a front seat of a motor vehicle, of the type having a seat cushionand a hinged tiltable back to provide access to a rear seat of thevehicle, the improvements comprising means provided in the front seatconstruction, which means cause a forward sliding displacement of theseat cushion parallelly to the floor of the vehicle upon forward tiltingthe tiltable back, said means comprising first and second guides at eachside of the seat, each guide comprising a fixed first part and a movablesecond part, the fixed part of the first guide being rigidly secured tothe floor of the vehicle, the fixed part of the second guide being rigidwith the movable part of the first guide, which movable part is movablysecured to its first part rigid with the vehicle floor, the movable partof the second guide being in turn rigidly secured to the seat cushion;releasable hook means provided between the back and the cushion of theseat to secure the two in their normal position; two levers, one eachrespectively secured to the sides of the back, a crossbar having twopivots disposed so as to rigidly connect to each other said two leversand secured at two points to the sides of the seat construction so thatthese two levers are enabled to have angular movement on tilting thetiltable back; the lower ends of said two levers being secured byconnecting means to the fixed part of the second guide, so that saidends can be prevented from performing substantial displacements withrespect to the above said fixed part, parallelly to the guides, and theseat cushion is caused to move slidingly forward on tilting of thetiltable back.

2. The seat according to claim 1 wherein the connecting means consist oftwo links, one end of each link being pivoted to the lower end of thecorresponding ma] position and being manually disengaged for tilting thetiltable back of the seat.

4. The seat as claimed in claim 1, wherein said guides, the cross barwith two pivots and said connecting means are all located substantiallybelow the seat and are concealed.

t I II I! l UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORREfiTIONPatent NO. q gqs gqr Dated October 3, 1972 Inventor (s) IVO CI It iscertified that error appears in the above-identified patent and thatsaid Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data October 22 1969 Italy 23725 A/69Signed and sealed this 6th day of March 1973.

(SEAL) Attest:

' ROBERT GOTTSCHALK W RD M.FLETCHER JR. ED A Commissioner of PatentsAttestin'g Officer RM o-1050 10-69 uscoMM-Dc scam-ps9 A [1.5, GOVERNMENTPRINTING OFFICE, 1959 0-356-334

1. In a front seat of a motor vehicle, of the type having a seat cushionand a hinged tiltable back to provide access to a rear seat of thevehicle, the improvements comprising means provided in the front seatconstruction, which means cause a forward sliding displacement of theseat cushion parallelly to the floor of the vehicle upon forward tiltingthe tiltable back, said means comprising first and second guides at eachside of the seat, each guide comprising a fixed first part and a movablesecond part, the fixed part of the first guide being rigidly secured tothe floor of the vehicle, the fixed part of the second guide being rigidwith the movable part of the first guide, which movable part is movablysecured to its first part rigid with the vehicle floor, the movable partof the second guide being in turn rigidly secured to the seat cushion;releasable hook means provided between the back and the cushion of theseat to secure the two in their normal position; two levers, one eachrespectively secured to the sides of the back, a crossbar having twopivots disposed so as to rigidly connect to each other said two leversand secured at two points to the sides of the seat construction so thatthese two levers are enabled to have angular movement on tilting thetiltable back; the lower ends of said two levers being secured byconnecting means to the fixed part of the second guide, so that saidends can be prevented from performing substantial displacements withrespect to the above said fixed part, parallelly to the guides, and theseat cushion is caused to move slidingly forward on tilting of thetiltable back.
 2. The seat according to claim 1 wherein the connectingmeans consist of two links, one end of each link being pivoted to thelower end of the corresponding lever, and the other end being pivoted tothe said fixed part of the second guide.
 3. The seat according to claim1, further comprising a locking member which is pivotally mounted to oneof said levers and is engageable with a fixed stop member, integral withthe seat cushion, the locking member being engaged when the hinged seatback is in the normal position and being manually disengaged for tiltingthe tiltable back of the seat.
 4. The seat as claimed in claim 1,wherein said guides, the cross bar with two pivots and said connectingmeans are all located substantially below the seat and are concealed.